Jack landed in the frosty park. It was dark. He groaned in annoyance. It was taking ages to track down Danny. Especially since Jack didn't know what he was looking for exactly. Was he looking for Danny himself? Where did Danny hang out most? Should he look out for kids screaming? Jack didn't know enough to find the Spirit of Fear. Maybe he should have asked Tooth and her fairies for back up. He sat down on the bench and scowled in thought. Finding one person in the world was hard. Finding a person when you were invisible and couldn't ask around was even harder. Jack huffed his stresses away and made a small snow flurry over his hand and played with a snowflake to relax.
Feeling calmer, Jack stood up, picking up his trusty wooden staff and scanned the park before scowling at a little kid scurrying across the road looking nervous. Jack decided to follow the little boy out of concern. Despite being the spirit of winter, he felt a chill through the air. He frowned. Then he noticed a boy that looked very like Danny with unusual hair and eyes. The image hadn't shown it, but both eyes were strikingly different and half of his hair was even whiter than Jack's and yet half of it was darker than Pitch. Jack saw Danny kick over a tin can by a dumpster and the kid Jack had been following whimpered nervously and rushed down the road faster. Jack scowled angrily. He ran over to Danny. Danny kicked the can again and the kid started to walk faster. Danny picked up the can and threw it across the road to an alley near the boy. It fell to the ground with a clatter. The boy cried out and began to run for it. Danny shook his head.
"Danny?! Right?" Jack called cautiously. Danny turned to Jack and smiled.
"Let me guess, Jack Frost?" Danny replied. Jack blinked in surprise.
"How did you know that?" Jack whispered. Danny chuckled.
"Not hard to figure out. I can see the frost all over that staff of yours and I've heard about you from a few leprechauns I've seen. Fellow trickster they called you," Danny answered. Jack laughed softly.
"Yeah, those guys are really fun to hang out with," Jack muttered. Danny shrugged.
"Personally, I find them a little annoying after a while. But fun in small doses. So, why are you talking to me?" Danny remarked. Jack smiled nervously.
"I came to get you. The Man in the Moon has made you a guardian. The others are waiting at the Pole," Jack informed him. Danny's easy expression hardened.
"No," he retorted stiffly and walked down the street. Jack blinked in surprise. He ran after Danny.
"What do you mean, "No"?" Jack asked. Danny huffed with annoyance.
"I don't obey the Man in the Moon," Danny growled. Jack frowned.
"Obey? Who said anything about obeying him? This is a great honour Danny. You should be happy," Jack retorted confused. Danny stopped and turned to Jack.
"I don't listen to higher powers Jack. It's never done me any good. I don't listen to the Man in the Moon and I don't listen to the guardians. Got it?" Danny snarled. He then turned to leave.
"So what? You scare kids for fun? You have no purpose? Just like Pitch," Jack replied angrily. Danny froze. He turned to Jack with a dangerous look in his mismatched eyes.
"You don't know what you're talking about! I am nothing like Pitch!" Danny growled furiously. Jack swallowed down his unease at the glare Danny was giving him.
"Then prove it. Help the guardians," Jack muttered, in a smaller voice than he intended. Danny scoffed.
"I'm not a team player. I especially don't play well with people that fear me," Danny replied. Jack's eyes widened in surprise.
"Fear you? I don't-" Jack began.
"Jack, I can feel you're scared. Spirit of Fear remember? I have stuff to do," Danny interrupted and walked down the road, vanishing from sight as he tapped into his invisibility.
Jack stared at the spot he last saw Danny. He shook his head and jumped into the air. He didn't understand. He'd been reluctant to start with. But Danny seemed angry about something. Jack hadn't wanted the responsibility. But Danny… it seemed like it was something bigger. Jack glanced up at the moon.
"Now what? He won't come," Jack asked the moon. Jack returned to the North Pole. The others had gone back to their jobs, Bunny had gone to search for good hiding places for the next Easter Sunday. Jack dodged yetis lugging large building materials or elves scurrying around with pilfered fruit cake as he made his way through the workshop. Jack knocked loudly on North's workroom door and opened the door.
North grabbed an ice sculpture of a rabbit plush toy before it hopped out of the room.
"Jack! Did you bring Danny? We were starting to get worried," North boomed happily. Jack shook his head.
"No, he wouldn't come. Said that he didn't answer to higher powers or work well with others. I have a feeling that Bunny's going to get his way North," Jack informed him. North frowned.
"Perhaps he just needs time. You didn't like being a guardian to start with," North pointed out. Jack shook his head.
"Maybe, but it felt like it was more than not wanting to be guardian. I dunno North. If we knew why Manny wanted Danny as a guardian then maybe we could explain everything and convince him," Jack replied.
"Just give him time Jack. I'm sure he'll come around," North retorted confidently. Jack smirked at the immense man before excusing himself.
So, Danny does have a back story to deal with. But you guys aren't going to learn it all until the guardians do…
Anyway, until the next chapter.